wasn't there as president, more as a father and husband. >> i think the reason stories like this have such an impact on us is because we can all understand what it would be to have somebody that we love taken from us in this fashion. >> the president also praised the state, local and federal authorities who responded to the shooting. >> stop the violence, save the children, keep home alive. >> in largo, maryland, a group held a prayer vigil for the victims an families. the rainbow push coalition held a vigil, encouraging the community to be strong. they called for legislation banning assault weapons. coming up on the "today" show, in the wake of the colorado mass shooting, a hidden camera investigation on gun sales, just how easy it is for criminals to buy assault weapons. that's coming up at 7:00 a.m. on

nbc4. turning to first look at the weather, it is a little muggy out there. i saw a few raindrops coming in. >> meteorologist tom kierein, our eyes aren't receiving us. >> good morning, eun, good to have you back. >> thanks so much. appreciate it. >> in some places it's partly cloudy. those speckles of green, those are a few sprinkles, right now getting a few out on the mountains of west virginia. we have some passing through the metro area and to our south in prince william, stanford and spots vin yeah koun tis. just a few in noshlth earn prince george's county and northern an run dell, another to the north of gaithersburg in montgomery county. temperatures all around the region are mild. it's rather muggy. we're in the low to mid 70s, montgomery, arlington, fairfax, prince george's county, the district, near the bay.

northern neck and eastern shore as well low to mid 70s. shenandoah valley into the mountains. here is your day planner, have an umbrella handy, a small chance of a shower. partly sunny, will be in the upper 80s by noon. low 90s early to mid afternoon. by only a slight risk that they would be severe from mid to late afternoon into perhaps early this evening. i'll be back in ten minutes. danella is here with a look at traffic. >> following breaking news on the roadways, southbound branch avenue at earnshaw road, all lanes were blocked but have just cleared. police have moved the crash to the shoulder lane. now the lanes are open. that's good news. if you're traveling westbound 50 at 201, crash blocking the left lane. that's been moved over and travel lanes are open.

395 at edsel, looks like a broken down vehicle, luckily just in your right shoulder lane, if you're traveling northbound 395, you look good as you head towards the 14th street bridge. eun, back in ten minutes. back over to you both. one man is in the hospital due to a stabbing that happened in on north frederick avenue in gaithersburg. police say he knew the man who stabbed him. no word if police made many arrests in the case of what led to the stabbing. at least is 11 people are dead and 12 others injured in a crash in southern texas. state police there reported heavy-duty truck blew a tire and slammed into a tree last night just north of corpus christi. all 23 people including several children were inside the truck at the time of the crash. many of the survivors have light threatening injuries. immigration and customs officials are also taking part in this investigation.

today penn state will find out its punishment for allegedly covering up abuse by assistant football cove jerry sandusky. the ncaa will announce sanctions this morning. those sanctions are expected to be severe and could include a hefty fine, a loss of scholarships and a ban on bowl games. they will not likely include the so-called death penalty, that one involves suspending the entire football program for at least one year. this morning's announcement will come a day after penn state removed the statue of former head coach joe paterno from the front of the school's stadium. they say the statue has become a division and an obstacle to healing. a question of what to do with the paterno statue has divided the penn state community. >> i am just absolutely devastated. >> i think honestly he's being used as a scapegoat.

>> it feels like a funeral. >> the statue has no place as a public reminder to those hurt so badly by mr. paterno. >> paterno died of cancer six months to the day before his statue was removed. the paterno family obviously opposed to the removal of the statue. the family release add statement that says tearing down the statue of joe paterno does not serve the victims of jerry sandusky's horrible crimes or help heal the penn state library. the library will still be named after joe paterno. 4:35. police are looking for a missing man in prince george's county. 78-year-old leander cooper vanished sunday morning. police say he hasn't been seen since he dropped off his wife at washington hospital center in northwest d.c. at 8:00 a.m. they live in oxon hill. police say he suffers from 2k34e7x yeah. he was driving a silver 2006 chevy trailblazer with maryland tags 725m494.

if you've seen mr. cooper or his suv, call the prince george's county police. this morning there are new allegations against d.c. mayor vincent gray's 2010 campaign. "the washington post" reporting the campaign kept a database of public housing residents and used that list to get votes. that would be an illegal use of government information. voter turnout in the district was 26% higher in 2010 than in the previous mayoral election. mayor gray is already facing pressure to resign after a former aide admitted to helping run a shadow campaign to help get him elected. a symbol marking those killed by aids is on display at the national mall. it started 25 years ago with one single panel. now 48,000 panels represent 94,000 lives taken by aids. parts of the quilt are on display at various locations. the quilt panels will be there through tomorrow.

the quilt is one of several events helping kickoff the 2012 international aids conference. scientists and politicians are in town for the event. today secretary of state hillary clinton will address the conference. d.c. mayor gray spoke at last night's opening ceremony. he says hiv and aids have had a profound impact on the nation's capital. >> in the district of district of columbia, more than 20,000 people have been infected and more than 10,000 have lost their lives. >> celebrity philanthropists including elton john and bill gates will also attend today's conference events. a march also helped kickoff this hiv awareness week. thousands headed down constitution avenue for the keeping the promise march. participants are pushing for more funding for aids programs and lower prices for lifesaving drugs. thousands were also on the mall for a free concert featuring

wyclef jean. the incident that had a popular virginia roller coaster off limits. plus the u.s. is not the only country dealing with massive wildfires. where firefighters are struggling to contain this deadly fire. >> another hot and humid day as you get ready to

two people jumped into the sea and died trying to escape this wildfire in northeastern spain. a third person died of a heart attack. this fire injured more than a dozen other people. this morning that fire forcing officials to stop train service between spain and france. several bridges linking the countries are also closed. >> devastating scene. in our area 4:41, weather and traffic on the 1s. hopefully rain will come in and cool things down a little bit. >> that's scary looking at this sky. tom, clouds hanging tough? >> nothing to be afraid of. those are just low clouds over the metro area. that's a live view from our nbc4 hd city camera on this monday morning. good morning. tom kierein in storm center 4. in the region we're in the low 70s, that includes manassas, hometown forecast for prince william county, typical for much

of the area, just a slight chance of a sprinkle. a likelihood of scattered storms by mid afternoon into the low 90s. some scattered showers and thundershowers may linger. by late evening the upper 70s. any storms around will be dissipating. we'll take a look at the rest of the weekend and next weekend. that's in ten minutes. danella, good morning. >> checking things out, westbound route 50 at 424, davidsonville road, police ak fift in the sthoulder lane. be cautious of that. also westbound 50 at 201, an accident, but that's moved to the shoulder lane. if you're traveling 395 northbound at edsel, still have the disabled vehicle on the shoulder lane. volume is very light. clear northbound as you head towards the 14th street bridge. your next traffic report comes up in exactly ten minutes. aaron and eun, back over to you. >> it is 4:43.

still to come, we have breaking news we're getting out of iraq this morning after one of the bloodiest days in years. >> the potential terror threat that has israeli athletes on guard at the olympic games. the unwanted customer

jury selection begins in the trial of drew peterson. his wife kathleen savio was found dead in her bathtub in 2004. her death was initially ruled an accident. police reopened the investigation after his fourth wife stacy went missing in 2007. she's still missing today. prosecutors decided to put stacy on the witness list for the

trial. experts say they did it to suggest she sal live some more. more than a dozen soldiers in an army base have been killed in what's turning out to be the single deadliest day in that country this year. also today police say bomgs blew up in homes north of taji. when rescuers got there, a suicide bomber blew himself up. 28 people were killed in the attack, this is a day after car bombings killed 20 people and wounded 80 others. death toll today across that country now at 82. also, israeli security forces say they believe a terrorist with a u.s. passport may be targeting israeli athletes at the olympics. this is the man they're looking for. they say he has a u.s. passport under the name david jefferson. they believe he was involved in last week's suicide bombing in bulgaria. six people died in that attack

on a bus. british security officials have raised their tir record threat assessment against israeli's delegation ahead of the olympics. three people are recovering after a deck collapsed at a house gathering in loudoun county. it happened on royalty road in leesburg yesterday. at least 24 people were on the deck when it sgaif way, falling six feet to the ground. the three people hurt are expected to be okay. a county building engineer will try to determine the cause of the collapse. a roller coaster at kings do minion is shut down for a third day oovps. a guest was found unresponsive on the dominator coaster friday night. emergency crews treated the visitor, then took that person to the hospital. the dominator opened at king's do minion in 2008, the two-minute ride reaches speed of 67 miles per hour. inspectors found no operational concerns. there's no word when the ride will reopen. 4:47 now. nasa a few hours away from launching a rocket from virginia

to test its next generation of heat shields. the rocket is set to blapt off from wol lops island flight facility. it will carry a heat shield that according to nasa looks like a giant cone of enter tubes. the space agency hopes it will help future spacecraft carry heavier pay loads into orbit. the white house visitor center is under construction. renovations will last 15 months. they plan to add more interactive exhibits, a museum and expand the bookstore. a tell trar vis store center is at 15th and e streets. it will stay open until the restoration is complete. a bear club wandered into a mall in pittsburgh, pennsylvania. they say this cub somehow got into the sears department store saturday night before closing night. >> maybe some appliances, new refrigerator. >> security evacuated the mall

while four wildlife experts showed up. they tranquilized the bear and moved it to a safe location. they think the smell of food lured him to the mall. that food court will get you every time. we're counting down to the start of the olympic games in london. we're four days away from the opening ceremony. tourists arrived early to explore london and so far the weather is cooperating with sunny skies in london. people from across the world are checking out buckingham palace, london's trafalgar square. those tourists can buy official olympic gear from the store in london. london 2012 store is now open. the 12,000 square foot store is the only place outside of olympic park where people can buy official olympic and paralympic shirts, hats, pens, stuffed animals and other merchandise. athletes will make special visits to the store throughout the games. customers can also take their picture with the olympic torch. very fun. you can watch the olympic games right here on nbc4.

coverage begins this friday with the opening ceremony. dan hellie reports from london. you can visit nbcwashington.com for a lits list of the key events to watch. >> apparently the women's rowing team this year is supposed to be spectacular, just really strong -- like some of the best of the best of the best in that boat all together. coming up on 4:51. tom kierein is here this morning and taking a look at another -- just hot. it's july. it's july. just the way it is. >> the good news is, starting today our average temperatures start getting cooler. we've already been through -- at least on average our hottest period of the yeefrmt usually that's the first three weeks of july. we're past that. >> now we're at least on average cooling down. today we're going to get above average. >> there's the low cloudiness over the district. now there's the washington

monument, just a couple hundred feet above that there are low clouds cruising through. 75 at reagan national. we've got rather high humidity in place. dew point at a steamy 73. storm 4 radar showing a few passing sprinkles in the mountains as well as right in the district we had a few sprinkles go by about an hour ago. now those are moving through northern prince george's county near bowie. that's heading along 50 toward annapolis. right now annapolis and north of there up toward zef wren getting a few sprinkleses. also a few sprinkles passing out of montgomery county from lay tons ville toward howard county, another sprinkle in poolesville and northern montgomery. temperatures around the region in the low and mid 70s. we'll stay here, low to mid 70s for another two to three hours. by 9:00, here is your daep, we'll be into the 80s. we have a small chance of a shower. otherwise partly sunny and humid. partly sunny and humid middle

part of the day. during the latter part of the afternoon will be from the low 90s dropping back down to the 80s with scattered thunderstorms likely popping up. only a small chance they would be severe with damaging winds. stay tuned. if you hear thunder, get inside and turn on nbc4. tomorrow, another day with possibly afternoon storms. then a nice break on wednesday. low humidity, beautiful day, bright sunshine. highs 80s. your doctor will be playing golf. as we get into thursday and friday and saturday each day, some heat and humidity return with a chance of afternoon storms. with our first 4 traffic, good morning danella. >> checking things out along i-270, things look good. no delays north or southbound. a live look in clarksburg road, very light volume as you make your way southbound as well as northbound. southbound, travel lanes are open connecting the the beltway, not an issue for you.

that inner loop speed, nice and clear as you head towards i-95, about 61 miles per hour. that drive only taking ten minutes at this time. i'm back in ten minutes with another first 4 traffic report. back over to you. >> danella, thank you. jammer man turns on that one. see you later. he's done it again! >> this morning the nationals are right where they were before this weekend's crucial series with the braves, in first place by 3 1/2 games. they beat atlanta 9-2 yesterday to earn a split of the four-game series. ryan zimmerman hit two home runs. the nats open another big series tonight in new york against the mets. the nationals will be without their all-star shortstop for at least the next couple weeks. the team placed ian desmond on the 15-day disabled list because of a tear in his oblique. he's been trying to play through the pain, but he says he's just read difficult for it to stop.

the nats say the injury won't require any surgery. >> go nats. it's 4:54. an act of kindness that backfired. coming up at 5:15, the donation that sent dozens of people to the hospital. first, the roller coaster ride continues for drivers every time we stop to gas up the car. plus talk about rushing to get to the altar, the unusual event that had these brides in an

you can partly blame the drought on those higher prices at the pump. analysts say the dry weather is decimating corn crops and that's used to make ethanol, a key ingredient in gas. as for prices right now, aaa says drivers in the district are paying about $3.70 a gallon. maryland is paying about $3.46. in virginia, also a penny more, $3.31. in west virginia your average is $3.48 which has been the case all weekend. analysts don't expect prices to drop until after labor day. heads up if you use the montgomery county ride on bus service. it is running on a slower holiday schedule through tomorrow. the county pulled its 30 champion-style buses off the road after a fire last week in silver spring. there have been at least a dozen fires involving that model since

2009. the normal week day schedule should pick back up on wednesday. we will let you know. so there are dozens of soon-to-be brides who made a mad dash to get their dream wedding for free. >> the brides laced up their shoes for the race. >> wow, some of them are in an all-out sprint t. brides ran wearing their wedding gowns down the street near parliament in serbia. the winner won the 150 meter dash in 19 seconds. the first and second place winners got their entire wedding paid for. to me, that's worth sprinting for. weddings are expensive. >> i like how they have their tennis shoes on. you can't run in heels, can you? >> i can run in heels, but not to win. i would be concerned -- are these the real bridal gowns or just fake gowns you wear just for the race.

you don't want to ruin your dress. >> i think they just had to get a wedding dress of some sort. hopefully they'll get real dresses. then your husband has seen the dress. >> not everyone is that traditional. >> about not seeing the dress? >> yes. >> that's news to me. i didn't know that. "news 4 today" continues right now at 5:00 a.m. an emotional ceremony as people remember those who died in a theater massacre while the suspected gunman prepares for his day in court. penn state bracing itself for crippling sanctions as the school tries to move past the sandusky scandal. good morning, i'm aaron gilchrist. >> i'm eun yang. welcome to "news 4 today" for this monday,